Emotional Collins coaches last game with Sixers

Indiana Pacers guard Orlando Johnson, left, and Philadelphia 76ers guard Damien Wilkins go up for a rebound in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

INDIANAPOLIS — A grade-school choir had belted out the national anthem, his players’ names had been called out and the lights had been dimmed when Doug Collins — while awaiting the introductions of Indiana’s starting five — took a seat on the 76ers’ bench.

Maybe all of that pregame fanfare created the perfect storm of emotions for Collins. Or something in the Fieldhouse triggered his seasonal allergies, because in a matter of 60 seconds, Collins went from collected to emotional.

The seasoned coach started dabbing at the corners of his eyes with his hands, and squeezing the end of his nose with his thumb and index finger.

He knew this was the end, the last game he would coach the Sixers.

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Earlier this week, according to multiple sources, Collins told the Sixers’ ownership group that he would not return next season for the fourth and final year of his contract. The Illinois kid watched the final game of his three-season tenure Wednesday night in a Midwest town.

A formal announcement of Collins’ resignation is expected today, when the Sixers’ players and coaching staff convene at their PCOM practice facility to call it a season.

And by then, Collins will have called it a career with the Sixers, after a playing career that produced four All-Star Game appearances and a three-year coaching stint that yielded two playoff berths.

Collins has never coached a team beyond three seasons in any of his previous three NBA stops.

“It’s interesting,” Collins said before the game. “Everybody always talks about my third year with teams. I always love it.”

Collins, after dishing out a wry smile, went on to say how each of his third seasons were marked by blockbuster trades.

“Every third year I’ve had, there’s been a major trade,” Collins said, “... and this year, we made the big deal for Andrew Bynum.”

While no one is expecting Collins to take the blame for the sinking ship that was the Sixers’ season, it goes without saying that a strong season from Bynum — a second-team All-NBA pick who piled up the second-most double-doubles — would have made the difference. And it might have kept Collins on the bench for the duration of his contract.

Heading into Wednesday’s season finale, Collins had guided the Sixers to a 108-120 record in three seasons. He also took them to the playoffs twice, including last season’s trip to the seventh game of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

When he signed on with the Sixers, Collins was taking over a team that was in rebuilding mode. He changed that. Well, at least until this season.

“Preparation-wise, he’s a great coach,” Thaddeus Young said. “He’ll always have you ready for games. He’s always going to challenge you. That’s what I look for in a coach — someone who’s going to challenge you each and every day. Sometimes, coaches sit back in this league and let guys do whatever they want to do. Then there are some who lead their team. I think Coach does a good job of both. He builds teams, builds organizations and has the ability to get teams to the playoffs.”

Collins also had a way of rubbing players the wrong way. One player, who asked to remain anonymous, said Collins didn’t now the difference between pushing players to get the most out of them and pushing players to the point of frustration.

“He’s been a little tough. He’s a hard-nosed coach,” the player said. “He can be a little too hard, but that’s the way they are when they come from the old school.”

Despite the detractors, Collins took these Sixers — a team without its franchise player in Bynum for the duration of the season — into the final two weeks of the season before being mathematically eliminated from the playoff race.

That’s not a bad distinction for a group that, outside of Jrue Holiday and Young, was lacking proven producers. As usual, Collins displayed his fun-loving shtick during the Sixers’ finale.

He gave a wink to an official for wrongly anticipating a media timeout that never came.

He walked up and down the bench, fist-bumping every player on his roster.

He patted Spencer Hawes on the back of the head, despite Hawes picking up early fouls.

In a peculiar show of his cards, Collins referred to the Sixers with different pronouns. He used “we” when discussing next season, then used “you,” as though he would be an organizational outsider.

Collins and the Sixers are believed to be working out an arrangement to keep the 61-year-old in-house next season as a consultant. Even still, this will have been his last season as their coach.

Wednesday was his last game, and it looked as though that fact finally caught up to him while sitting on the bench.